A friend texted me the news while I was driving back from the Avalanche’s optional skate Friday. Butch Mousseau, the Colorado hockey referee who has his NHL striped jersey and skates on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, died of a brain hemorrhage in Grand Rapids, Mich. Mousseau, who is of American Indian descent, tripped last Friday during warmups in an NCAA playoff game and hit his head on the ice. His hands were in his pockets. His brain swelled. Doctors couldn’t save him.

Referee Butch Mousseaux (Photo via GoFunMe)

The news made Saturday’s Avalanche-Wild showdown seem unimportant. In fact, after I filed a quick online Mousseau obit Friday, and then two or three write-thrus, I became disinterested in writing the COL-MIN advance story. It stinks. And I don’t care. After talking to DU Pioneers radio guy Jay Stickney via phone from Minnesota, where he’s preparing to call Saturday’s NCAA Tournament regional game between DU and Boston U., I had a tough time looking at my computer through tears. Stickney and Mousseau were fraternity brothers at Colorado and lived and worked in Maui after graduation.

Referees/linesmen and sports writers don’t usually cross paths outside the rink. But because of former longtime linesman Tim Swiader of Denver, I was introduced to the WCHA officiating clan about 10 years ago. I consider Swiader and former WCHA ref Don Adam, now the NCHC officials czar, good friends, and I enjoyed my brief time hanging out with Mousseau.

Mousseau worked for the WCHA for 16 years, and also did NCHC games since that Colorado-based league began in 2013.

“Butch loved officiating and he had great respect for the student-athletes and coaches. No matter how difficult or intense a game might be, Butch always wore a big smile on his face. This smile had a tremendous calming effect on everyone. On the occasions where would disagree with a call, his self-deprecating humor and warm personality would quickly diffuse an emotional situation. He was very well-liked by everyone and perhaps the most popular official in the WCHA. His unique war ‘whoop’ on delayed icing was his unique way of signaling his fellow officials. He will be missed terribly by everyone who knew him.” — George Gwozdecky, former Denver coach

Swiader is now the NCHC video guy. “After working 25 years working both minor professional and NCAA Division 1, Butch was one of the guys that I felt 100 percent confident going into a big game. I always knew where he was and where he is going,” Swiader said in an email. “Off the ice, Butch was one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. He would do anything at any time. When I got hurt, he would be one of the first to call to see how I was doing. He always had a smile on his face and was the first to initiate a handshake.

“I am not an emotional kind of guy but I have run out of tears today.”

Wild at Avalanche on Saturday, 1 p.m.

Avs LW Cody McLeod on Friday:

Patrick Roy Part 1 Friday:

Patrick Roy Part 2 Friday:

Avs D Francois Beauchemin: “Exciting games to play. Everybody is watching us and saying we’re in a tough situation. But you have to take it as a positive thing and just get excited and motivated by it … We have to approach it like a must-win situation. We have eight games left. We know where we’re at. Obviously, it’s a must-win situation … We control our own destiny. We win tomorrow, we’re right back in it. We all know that if we lose we put ourselves in a really tough situation.”

Roy: “It’s not time right now to look at the big picture. If you’re looking at the big picture it’s going to be scary.”

My game story on the Avalanche’s 4-2 loss to the Flyers is here. It’s always fun to have three different versions of the “lede” going — one for a Colorado win, one for Colorado getting one point, one for Colorado losing in regulation — and then starting to settle in on one … and have it blow up.

Sound familiar?

Filing that “runner” at the buzzer then becomes, um, quite a challenge and we’re always relieved when the later touched-up story with quotes, refiled after a half hour of gathering quotes and rewriting, is posted.

Some extras:

Erik Johnson, who logged 26:58 of ice time and for the most part had a terrific game, was at his stall, answering questions.

He’s quoted in the story, but I wasn’t able to get in his entire answer after I asked him abut blowing leads.

“We have to find a way to be better,” he said. “We can talk about it all we want, we just have to do it. We’ve talked about it a ton, trust me, as a group. Is our preparation, is it the process, is it just focus. We talk about it a lot, about the leads, and at the end of the day I think we just get a little too passive. When we feel the other team pushing, the other team buzzing, we may get a little bit back on our heels and then they buzz and something happens.”

I also wasn’t able to get in his answer when I asked him about the Flyers’ third goal, which followed a Johnson turnover.

“We were setting up for the one-timer in the offensive zone,” he said. “I just tried to chip it down the wall, and (Wayne) Simmonds made a nice play to pull it to the middle. They got a shot there and we backchecked perfect into the slot and I guess we over-backchecked a bit and the fourth guy (Claude Giroux) knocked it in.

“I might have played one of the best games of my career and one little play, it can happen like that and be the difference.”

In Patrick Roy’s post-game interview, I asked the coach about the blown leads — that’s in the story — and also about shortening his bench, even more than usual.

Among the defensemen, not just Johnson and Francois Beauchemin (23:28) played big-time minutes, but so did Nick Holden (27:23) and Tyson Barrie (26:16) The Avalanche had only one power play to skew that a bit for Barrie. That meant Chris Bigras (10:14) and Zach Redmond (4:31) didn’t see the ice much.

And the Colorado fourth line, with Mikko Rantanen centering Cody McLeod and Jack Skille, played so sparingly, it demonstrated a glaring lack of faith in Rantanen — something Roy himself admitted. Rantanen was drafted as, and played most of the season at San Antonio as, a winger before playing center with the Rampage of late. Yes, with Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon out, it was the right call to bring up Rantanen and even to get him to the 10-game threshold and burn the first year of his entry-level deal, but this is the worst of both worlds. You either have enough faith in him, making it worth burning that year if it comes to it, or you don’t. It would be ridiculous to both burn that year and not show any faith in him. If that’s the possibility, the Avs would have been better off to recall a lunch-bucket forward from the Rampage.

“I tried to roll the lines,” Roy said. “I guess I don’t trust yet Mikko and that makes me sometimes nervous, a faceoff in our end…Sometimes it’s just a matter of trust. I guess with time, he’ll be there, but this is a playoff game for us. It’s not about how much I say I’m going to give to the guys, it’s about having the guys that I think should be on the ice at that moment and who I’m trusting and have confidence in.”

Attendance was 100 percent Wednesday at Family Sports, where the 21 available Avalanche players practiced for 28 minutes under the direction of coach Patrick Roy. Afterward, a handful of guys skated with assistant coach Tim Army for an hour. The significant snowstorm — we’re calling it a blizzard — didn’t prevent anyone from showing up on time. I heard Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene even made it to the rink for off-ice workouts.

I had no problem getting to the rink either. But I did get stuck in my neighborhood on the way home. As for the Philadelphia Flyers, who visit the Pepsi Center on Thursday, they arrived in Denver early Wednesday morning, after blowing a 2-0 lead in the final minute of regulation and losing 3-2 in a shootout at Columbus. The Flyers got to town before the blizzard began.

Nothing new about the knee injuries to MacKinnon and Duchene. Roy will meet with reporters after Thursday’s morning skate/availability at the Pepsi Center.

We’ll have a Shawn Matthias story and gameday advance package posting online soon at denverpost.com/avalanche.

The knee injuries to Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon might ruin the Avalanche’s plans to return rookie Mikko Rantanen to minors and preserve the first year of his entry-level contract (ELC). After all, how can the Avs demote Rantanen — the AHL’s rookie scoring leader in just 44 games-played — if Duchene and/or MacKinnon are out more than the next two games?

Rantanen is pointless in seven NHL games, but he obviously has the ability to help the Avs offensively in the final nine games and a playoff spot on the line. He became the second youngest AHL player in 80 years of the league to play in its all-star game.

Toronto’s William Nylander recently became the 12th ELC-slide-eligible player to burn a year of the deal by playing in 10 NHL games. But according to coach Patrick Roy, the Avalanche doesn’t want to do that with Rantanen.

“Yes we are,” Roy told me about being concerned about keeping Rantanen’s ELC-slide intact. “I’d be very surprised (if he plays in 10 games). I’m going to let (GM) Joe (Sakic) talk more about this — it’s more Joe’s thing — but I’ll say to you, we’re focused on those two games and we’ll see after. But, the contract, it is in the back of our mind.”

Rantanen skated with other youngsters more than an hour after practice ended Monday, after the decent media gathering had left. He told me: “Just trying not to think about it too much, that contract thing. The guys upstairs decide what to do and I just try to play as well as I can and try to help the team win. It’s a big playoff push here. I don’t decide where I play.”

Rantanen is in his first year in North American and continually playing on NHL-size sheets. “It was nice playing in San Antonio, trying to learn more of the North American game,” he said. “When I came here I knew I like to play in the smaller rink. The game is faster and I have to make decisions faster. The games I played there have really helped me — and the minutes too; I was on the PP, PK, everything.”

The Avalanche returned home early Monday and is taking the day off. Our normal coverage of the team will resume Tuesday from practice. Freelance game stories from the 3-0 Canadian trip are at denverpost.com/avalanche.

Butch Mousseau is a Western Collegiate Hockey Association referee from Erie. He was seriously injured Friday at the WCHA Final Five in Grand Rapids, Mich., during warmups before the Ferris State-Michigan Tech playoff game. He fell and hit his head on the ice, and blood came out of his ears, according to good friend and former WCHA linesman Tim Swiader. He is in a drug-induced coma at Mercy Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, and doctors are hoping to ultimately transfer him to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Swiader said.

Please say prayers right now, specifically for the lowering of critically elevated intracranial pressure (swelling of the brain). It has continued to rise today despite inducing a “medical coma” and other medical treatments. — Tim Swiader, via text from Mousseaux family

The WCHA does not require officials to wear helmets during warmups, and Mousseau was not wearing one. Swiader, now a video official for the Colorado-based National Collegiate Hockey Conference, said the NCHC requires helmet protection for officials at all times. “I’m sure every league at every level will require them after this. Butch is a very good skater,” Swiader said.

From Dawg Nation: Additionally and as another option, you can go to: gofundme.com and type the words “Get Better Butchy” into the “search” window, which will take you directly to a Go Fund Me account that was set up for Butch and his family.

The game-winning goal came off an Avalanche turnover in the neutral zone. Defenseman Zach Redmond was attempting a short pass to forward Blake Comeau. But the play went the other way, on a 2-on-1 rush with Redmond stuck behind the play. Redmond politely declined comment.

Colorado is now 25-6-2 when taking a lead into the third period. In real math, that’s 25 wins, seven loses.

Said coach Patrick Roy: “We have to be better defensively. We made some mistakes at key moments. It was a bad turnover on the third goal and bad tracking on the second one. We need to be better in those moments of the game.”

About Redmond’s play that turned the puck the other way, Roy said: “I’m not going there. We win and we lose as a team. We stick together.”

Matt Duchene had a hand in both Avalanche goals, scoring the second. He said: “You go into the third period up a goal, it doesn’t matter what happened at the end of the second. Obviously you have to reset and come back out. It’s been a problem, closing out games, and tonight was no different. Give them credit, they played really well in the third. But we got to find a way to calm things down and push back at the right time. We didn’t do that. We pushed hard at the end but it was too little too late.”

Duchene’s goal was his 29th of the season. One more and he’ll be the first Avalanche player to reach 30 since Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk, as teammates in 2006-07. Hejduk had 29 the following season, but the 30-goal mark has not been reached in the last eight seasons.

I spoke with Duchene about reaching 30 and will write about that for Monday.

Tonight’s game begins a stretch against four Canadian teams, each on the outside of the playoff picture. The Avs will return to Denver tonight and fly to Vancouver on Tuesday. They play the Canucks on Wednesday, the Calgary Flames on Friday and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, March 20. Colorado (74 points) leads Minnesota (72) for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot. The Wild has a game in hand and the Avs own the first tiebreaker, regulation or overtime wins (ROW), 32-30.

Patrick Roy is going back to Semyon Varlamov in goal. More on that in our morning skate report at denverpost.com/avalanche. Roy talks about that and D Eric Gelinas returning to the lineup from a back injury:

Calvin Pickard’s 24 saves in the final 20 minutes Thursday set an Avalanche record for most saves in a period. His coach, Patrick Roy, held the previous record of 23, set on Oct. 15, 1997 at Edmonton and March 25, 1997 at Hartford. The game story from Colorado’s 3-2 win is here.

Roy after the Avs’ 3-2 win over the Panthers:

Matt Duchene’s game-winning goal; his 27th of the season tied his career high:

ST. PAUL, Minn. — My game story on the Avalanche’s 6-3 loss to Minnesota is here. (Alas, Bruce Springsteen, who played the Xcel Energy Center the night before and was a tough act to follow, was written out of the lede between the online-at-the-buzzer story and the later versions.)

And here is the story from the morning skate, with Mikkel Boedker and Eric Gelinas talking about joining the Avalanche. Boedker addresses his pending UFA status. I refashioned that into a later sidebar for print and online, and that version is here.

Although mentioned, lost a bit in the shuffle was that Jarome Iginla’s 608th career goal in the first minute pulled him into a tie with Dino Ciccarelli for 17th on the all-time NHL list, and Chris Bigras’ goal in the second period was the first of his career.

“When I hear that, it’s the same way,” said Iginla, who has been climbing the ladder and has been asked each time for his reaction. “It’s pretty neat, it’s pretty cool, but at the same time, tonight it isn’t that exciting when it was more about the importance of the game. I thought we had a chance to make a big comeback and we were going to find a way in the third, and it didn’t happen. So on another night and down in the future, I’ll definitely think it’s cool, but it’s not as exciting when you don’t win.”

Said Bigras, 20: “It’s a good feeling to get it out of the way. I just saw (Matt Duchene) on the far side there and he kind of drew all eyes on to him and I just tried to find a hole and he made a nice pass.”

Gelinas stepped into the third pairing with Bigras. Gelinas was a plus-1, Bigras even for the night.

Also making his Avalanche debut was Boedker, who was on the line with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabe Landeskog. Boedker was a minus-2, had one shot on goal and hit the post on a power play.

“We got off to a fast start with (Iginla’s) power play goal,” Boedker said. “But we had a couple of mishaps … I hit the post on that one and had a couple of good chances. I think we created some opportunities, so, yeah, you feel a little snakebit. You have to keep trying and pushing and they’re going to go in eventually.”

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Slumping Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov, who was pulled after the first period of Colorado’s 6-3 loss to Minnesota Tuesday night, overnight (or Wednesday in his homeland) was named one of the three goalies on Russia’s preliminary 16-man roster for the World Cup of Hockey Sept. 17-Oct. 1 in Toronto.

Russia’s other two goalies are Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Bluejackets and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Bobrovsky and Varlamov divided the work for Russia and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

UPDATED: Later in the day, Nathan MacKinnon was named to Team North America, made up of NHL players 23 or under when the tournament is played; Gabe Landeskog was selected for Sweden’s roster; and Mikkel Boedker (from Denmark) was on the Europe squad, which includes European players from nations without a team in the tournament.

The major players on the outside looking in after the preliminary selections are Matt Duchene, who played for Canada’s Olympic gold-medal team in 2014 and the World Championships gold-medal team last year; and Erik Johnson, a surprising omission from the 2014 U.S. Olympic team.

Busy day, folks. The Avalanche was one of the most aggressive teams on NHL trade deadline day and the latest write-thru is here. It includes a chart, summarizing the deals with Arizona, New Jersey and the New York Islanders.

Winger Mikkel Boedker and defenseman Eric Gelinas are joining Colorado this evening in St. Paul, Minn., and expected to play in Tuesday’s big game against the Wild. The Avs’ roster is at a maximum 23 players, with Boedker replacing Alex Tanguay and Gelinas taking goalie Reto Berra’s spot.

Going into the day, I was planning on making a big deal about Berra clearing waivers and being “reassigned” to San Antonio of the American Hockey League (Berra has actually been with the Rampage for more than a week, on a conditioning assignment, so he didn’t go anywhere to be reassigned). The move keeps Calvin Pickard, who is on a two-way contract, in Colorado as Semyon Varlamov’s alternative — for the rest of the season, according to Avs GM Joe Sakic. By doing so, the Avs fork out NHL paychecks to two backup goalies (Pickard is paid off a $67,500 salary in the minors). This season and last season, Pickard was sent to San Antonio when Varlamov and Berra were healthy. Part of that stemmed from Pickard’s need to play every night, and part of it was the team’s bottom line. Pickard, 23, has a bright future with the Avs, who will continue to move Berra.

“He’ll spend the rest of the year there,” Sakic said of Berra, who suffered a ankle injury Dec. 21. “Unfortunately for him, he was playing really well for us (but) got hurt, missed a lot of hockey and Calvin has come up and played really well. He deserves to be here, we’re in a playoff push and you want a goalie that’s played the most and has been hot. You don’t want to send Calvin down, the way he’s playing.”Read more…

The Avalanche is trying to unload backup goalie Reto Berra and keep Calvin Pickard as Semyon Varlamov’s alternative. Colorado placed Berra — who was sent to San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Feb. 18 for a conditioning assignment — on waivers Sunday. If he goes unclaimed, Berra will either remain in San Antonio or swap places with Pickard, who is on a two-way contract and exempt from the waiver wire.

Pickard is on a $850,500 (NHL)/$67,500 (minors) one-year contract. Berra is paid $1.45 million regardless of where he plays. Pickard is a pending restricted free agent this summer and Berra will be an unrestricted free agent in 2017. Avalanche GM Joe Sakic previously told me Pickard will be in Colorado next season, but it appears he would like to move Berra before the end of this season.

Berra is 2-2 for San Antonio, with a 2.92 goals-against average and .915 save percentage. His numbers in Colorado are 5-8, 2.41, .922. Berra hasn’t played in the NHL since Dec. 9, and was injured in a pregame soccer mishap Dec. 21, twisting his ankle in a Pepsi Center hallway.Read more…

Terry Frei’s Friday alumni game story, Mark Kizsla’s column and my Avalanche practice story is at denverpost.com/avalanche, along with everything else we do.

Some notes from the NHL:The Avalanche is the 21st NHL team to participate in an NHL outdoor game, and this is the 17th all-time: eight Winter Classics, six Stadium Series and three Heritage Classics. … Colorado residents Dave Jackson and Brad Watson are the referees at Coors Field. … Ten regular-season outdoor NHL games have been hosted by football venues, seven have been hosted by baseball stadiums. The NHL’s 17 regular-season outdoor games have drawn total attendance of 970,960 – an average of 57,115 per game. Outdoor game attendance will surpass the 1-million mark at today’s game. … Road teams are 12-4-1 in NHL outdoor games. … The first regular-season outdoor game in NHL history took place on Nov. 22, 2003, when the Canadiens defeated the Oilers 4-3 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton in the 2003 Molson Canadian NHL Heritage Classic. The 2003 Oilers-Canadiens clash also rates as the coldest NHL outdoor game. The temperature at puck drop was 0°F/-18°C with severe wind chill.The warmest game-time temperature for an NHL regular-season outdoor game was 62°F/17°C when the puck dropped at 7:16 p.m. local time for the 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

As outlined in my online story, Shawn Matthias Wednesday went through the Avalanche’s optional morning skate with linemates Carl Soderberg and Blake Comeau Wednesday and is ticketed to play with them later against the San Jose Sharks.

In addition, here’s what Patrick Roy said: “I feel that they are capable of playing against top lines. . . I’m curious to see how (Matthias) will fit in with Comeau and Soderberg.”

Roy said, “Like I said to him this morning, we showed him a bit our structure, how we want to play in the different zones, penalty killing. I want him to work hard, have fun, enjoy the ride. I think he’s going to be a good complement to the line of Soderberg and Comeau, I think he’s going to be able to play against good lines. I think he can bring some offense as well.”

Semyon Varlamov is ill and not practicing this morning, and Patrick Roy — also preparing for Friday night’s Red Wings-Avalanche alumni game — is in one of the nets at Family Sports Center, with Calvin Pickard at the other end.

Nathan MacKinnon also isn’t practicing because of illness, but Joe Sakic isn’t out there replacing him.

Neither illness is serious. It probably makes a Pickard start against San Joe Wednesday night a possibility, but we’ll probably know more about that after practice.

Newly acquired Shawn Matthias has yet to join the team because of immigration/work red tape.

Aleksander Barkov (16) of the Florida Panthers and Shawn Matthias (23) of the Toronto Maple Leafs fight for the puck during a game at BB&T Center on Jan. 26, 2016 in Sunrise, Fla. (Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images)

VANCOUVER — New Avalanche forward Shawn Matthias returned to Toronto Maple Leafs’ lineup Saturday and scored a goal against the Flyers, his sixth of the season. He had missed two weeks with a neck injury after colliding with a teammate during a Feb. 6 game against the Senators.

Via phone, Matthias — who celebrated his 28th birthday Friday — told me his neck is 100 percent and he’s thrilled to go from a probable draft lottery team to one that is in the playoff hunt. The Maple Leafs have 50 points, tied with Edmonton for the lowest in the league.

“I’m excited. Lot of skill, beautiful place to play,” Matthias, from Mississauga, Ontario, said of the Avs and Colorado. “I know some guys on the team and I know some guys who have played there and they all say great things. I was surprised this morning. I wasn’t expecting that phone call today but I’m excited to join the team and can’t wait to get started.” Read more…

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.